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Head Gasket (Success?) Posted by cgwiz [Email] ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Or, what I did over Thanksgiving weekend..... '97 CSE - About a month ago, I was driving on the highway on my way to work, and the lights suddenly dimmed. Within a minute or so, by the time I could get out of traffic and to the roadside and a (relatively) safe place to stop, the car had overheated to the point where it ruptured the upper radiator hose and blew coolant all over. Turns out, two of the three bolts holding the a/c compressor to the bracket had broken, and the third stripped out, throwing the belt, and causing the above mentioned chaos. A tow to the local Saab shop, and a few helicoils later, I'm back on the road. For a week. Then the head gasket let go. I suppose I should have expected it, as the car does have 225k+ miles on it, but I was hoping to get my 9-5 put together first. Oh well. Fortunately, I was able to borrow my dad's Griffin for a couple weeks, while I dealt with the gasket change, and the dreaded broken exhaust manifold studs (only 3 out of 7 broke). Got all of the studs removed (drill and EZ out), head cleaned up, and everything back together. Started her up, and she smoked. A lot. A whole lot. And didn't show any evidence of clearing up. Thought about it, and realized that considering the amount of coolant she went through on the 5 mile drive home from where the gasket let go, the exhaust system, and the catalytic converter, were most likely thoroughly soaked. Decided I had nothing to lose, and went for a drive. Took about 30 minutes and 20 miles, but the smoke cleared, the idle smoothed, and the power was back. Fingers crossed that another 9000 is back on the road! Been just taking it for a few short drives in the evening after work for the last week, as I have a 75 mile (one way) commute, and wanted to have a decent confidence level in the repair. So far so good.
_______________________________________ '04 9-5 Arc '05 9-5 Arc '97 9000 CSE '93 900 S 3 door
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